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Monthly Archives: February 2016

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A few months ago I wrote a post called, “Check your Stress!” While it had some good tools to identify whether or not you were stressed, getting to the mindset of self care is something I have observed many parents and teachers avoid even if they realize it is affecting their work and happiness. Here are a few resources out there.

Write about it

Think about ways of behaving, feeling or thinking that you would like to: • stop • start • continue.

For example: I would like to stop feeling guilty that I am not doing more for my ill family member. I would like to start taking an afternoon time out just for myself, to go shopping or to do yoga or to visit with friends. I would like to continue going to a family self-help group such as the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario when this support group ends.

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So awhile back I walked into a classroom after school and the teacher was listening to an educational Podcast on classroom behavior. He introduced me to a series of Podcasts on the BAM! Radio Network. It is now the largest all-education talk radio network in the world, offering programming from the nation’s top education organizations and thought leaders and reaching a wide audience of people passionately committed to quality education.

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All children have to learn skills that lend to their independence and autonomy. Developing Functional Independence is a parent’s main duty. Educators can team with parents to support independence in their students by helping identifying a need and suggesting strategies that support self reliance in a child. Chores are a great way to introduce concepts of developing independence.

There are 5 questions I think you can ask that will help you as you decide how to handle the situations at home to promote independence.

What things are really important to you as a family? If taking care of pets is really important and your child has a role in that, then as a family, that’s an important piece. But if no one else makes the bed in the family, for example, it may not be an important thing to expect of that child. This is what I mean by choosing what you’re going to do battle over.

What things are really important to your child and their life? It may not be important to you that your child chooses their own TV programs in the evening. But for your child, it may be really important to do that. Or it may be very important for your six-year-old to pick out her own clothes. If these tasks give your child age appropriate independence, I say let them do it.

Does the expectation contribute to the family or household? If your child has a responsibility to empty the dishwasher and that helps the next person who has to set the table, that’s a more important task than something that doesn’t have any connection to anyone else in the family.

Can there be some give and take? Can there be a choice to do something similar but different? There may be something your child is more willing or able to do that might be more meaningful to the rest of the family. Remember, the goal is for your child to succeed at what he’s doing and to build on that success.

Are there things you can do to help organize your child? Can you help structure that particular task or responsibility so that your child can be more successful? Setting it up so your child can more easily sort the recycling by having a designated area and special bins set up might do wonders to get the job done. Source

Activity Ideas-Based on Age

Erikson was keen to improve the way children and young people are taught and nurtured, and it would be appropriate for his ideas to be more widely known and used in day-to-day life. It is good to take stock in what should be accomplished at each stage of development to help keep expectations in perspective when parenting toward independence. Source

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TouchMath is a multisensory math program that makes critical math concepts appealing and accessible for students who struggle to understand grade-level content.

• Built on the Common Core State Standards• Blended solution of print and technology• Complete instructional core programs for pre-k through 2nd grade• Additional collection of programs for upper grades• Unique, student-friendly manipulatives to reinforce learning and differentiate instruction

Instructions

Touch math is a quick and easy way to help your child learn his/her math facts. Counting on fingers may work for a time, but as the numbers get larger counting on fingers becomes cumbersome and less accurate. To be able to do “touch math” successfully your child needs to be able to count to ten forwards and backwards with ease (please practice often). Touch math uses dots in a certain pattern on numbers that we touch with a pencil to help keep track of our counting. At first this process takes time because you are putting the dots on the numbers, but as your child memorizes the patterns on each number the counting becomes more automatic and the need for the dots subsides. When completing a math fact we put dots on both numbers and we count until we run out of dots. For subtraction we place the first number in our head and count backward until we run out of dots.

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Last night I attended the talk by Dr. Denise Pope at Cabrillo College. She recently wrote a book called – Overloaded and Underprepared: Strategies for Stronger Schools, and Healthy Successful Kids. For the past thirteen years, she has specialized in student engagement, curriculum studies, qualitative research methods, and service learning. She lectures nationally on parenting techniques and pedagogical strategies to increase student health, engagement with learning, and integrity. Her book Doing School: How We are Creating a Generation of Stressed Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students was awarded Notable Book in Education by the American School Board Journal.

Denise is a three-time recipient of the Stanford University Graduate School of EducationOutstanding Teacher and Mentor Award. She has been featured on CNN, World News Tonight, the Today Show, NPR, among other television and radio programs. Source

She had a great message and I could not stop thinking about how applicable it was to our kids. She of course has written books (which I plan to read) and is published professionally, but what I found remarkable was the amount of resources on her website.

A social autopsy is a problem-solving strategy designed to support social skills. Students with difficulties understanding social interactions can use a social autopsy as a way to analyze the social errors they made.

Examples of where social autopsies may be used include:

• Ignoring others’ greetings

• Asking a question in a class without raising hand

• Continuing to talk on the same topic

• Sneezing without covering own mouth

The steps include:

• Identify the error. The student describes to an instructor what happened and identifies what the error was. Identifying the correct emotions about the error can be difficult. The instructor helps the student understand the moment. In addition, the instructor teaches the unspoken rules that govern people’s behavior in a given setting.

• Identify the persons who were hurt by the error. Lack of theory of mind can be an obstruction in identifying others’ feelings or thoughts about the error. Teaching theory of mind may become a central aspect for this step.

• Decide how to correct the error. The student may need to observe the natural setting in which the desired behavior can happen. The instructor helps the student identify what other people do in the same situation and how the consequences can be different.

• Develop a plan that does not cause the error. Based on the identified way to alter the error, the student makes a plan and writes down in the worksheet what to do for the next time.

Remember the Autopsy is:

 a supportive, structured, constructive strategy to foster social competence

Worksheets

Three Other Variations include:

SOCCSS (Situation, Options, Consequences, Choices, Strategies, Simulations) developed by Jan Roosa. Designed to help individuals understand social situations and interactions, SOCCSS is a step-by-step problem-solving process teaching that choices have consequences. It provides an individual with decision-making techniques, including questioning and choice making. SOCCSS is a perfect intervention to incorporate into a comprehensive program plan. Source

2. Comic strip conversations: Also developed by Carol Gray. Visual symbols such as those found in cartoons often enhance social understanding, turning abstract and elusive events into something tangible that a person can reflect upon. This can help with theory of mind, and to understand the intent behind others actions. In comic strip conversations stick figures with speech and thought bubbles are drawn to illustrate the story while the child is talking. Colors from a color chart illustrate feelings e.g. green equals kind words and thoughts, and red equals mean words and thoughts. Source

3. Social Behavior Mapping-Developed by Michelle Garcia Winner. Social Behavior mapping teaches a student how to Connecting Behavior, Emotions and Consequences Across the Day and is geared for use by parents and professionals to help those with social thinking challenges understand what behaviors are expected and unexpected in a way that makes sense to their way of thinking.